Crowned with its semi-final at the 2022 World Cup, Morocco arrived as the favorite for this CAN 2024. A prediction confirmed by its performance in the 1st round of the competition, unlike other big teams, like the Côte d Ivory (returned from afar) or Algeria (eliminated), to name but a few.
The Atlas Lions, in fact, finished first in Group F after a convincing victory against Tanzania, followed by a draw against DR Congo, before recovering against Zambia.
But after the first six matches of the round of 16, Morocco begins to find itself alone among the favorites still in the running, especially after the cruel exit of the reigning Senegalese champion. He will have to confirm, Tuesday January 30 in San Pedro, against South Africa, an effective if not brilliant team.
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Moroccan coach Walid Regragui is wary at a press conference: "It's a direct elimination match. It's a change of competition. We have no room for error. Until then, what we're doing It's good but we want to do better. We have a lot of respect for South Africa."
“No 'tiki-taka', no 'we played the nice game'”
Until then, in fact, Morocco has shown a solid and impactful game, with well-established tactics and undeniable respect for the opponent. But sometimes too much. Playing well is good, now we have to score and win. An obvious fact that Walid Regragui's men sometimes have difficulty transcribing on the ground.
The metronome of this team, Azzedine Ounahi, is well aware of this: he no longer wants to hear that Morocco is "the Brazil of Africa", which can be satisfied with the "beautiful game". He particularly remembers a friendly match against Ivory Coast last October: "That's the problem, we went (there) saying to ourselves that we were the Brazil of Africa, we made 1 -1 and we were really bad!” Especially since the Atlas Lions could boast of a prestigious victory earlier in the year against the Seleçao (2-1).
"There is no 'tiki-taka', no 'we played well', you have to win, play every match at 100%. Everyone's objective is to bring back the CAN ", recalled Azzedine Ounahi to AFP before the competition.
“After what we did in the World Cup, the whole country is waiting for us to have a big CAN,” he admits again. "But if you finish as a semi-finalist in the World Cup, that doesn't mean you're going to win the CAN. (...) They're not the same matches, not the same pitches, not the same climate and not the same football."
Boufal forfeits the rest of the CAN, Ziyech uncertain
And it is not a competition that smiles on the Atlas Lions: if Morocco is one of the most diligent representatives of Africa in the World Cup, the kingdom has only won one CAN in 18 participations. It was in 1976. Since then, Morocco has had a series of disappointments, including a final lost in 2004 in Tunisia.
Worse, the Moroccans have only won one knockout match in the last decade. It was in 2022, and the adventure finally ended in the quarterfinals against Egypt with, ultimately, a fight between players and staff.
Walid Regragui was not yet the coach of Morocco, but during the current edition the scuffles at the end of the match against DR Congo almost deprived him of this round of 16 against South Africa. Suspended against Zambia, he finally saw his sentence reduced and will be on the bench at the Laurent Pokou stadium in San Pedro.
On the other hand, he will have to do without one, or even two essential players for this match. “Boufal is out and his CAN is over. He has a muscular problem and unless there is a surprise, we will not see him again,” announced the Moroccan coach. "Ziyech is also suffering from his ankle. With the medical staff, we are doing our best to get him on the pitch. If we have to take a risk with him, we will take it."
With AFP
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